Jessica Alba To Star In ‘Spy Kids 4′

Original Spy Kids Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara are all grown up now, which means that series creator Robert Rodriguez needs to enlist a new generation of pint-sized spooks. The new preteen twosome has yet to be cast, but their mother may have been found.

Jessica Alba is in negotiations to take on the role of the female lead in “Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World,” The Hollywood Reporter reveals. If cast, she’ll play a newly reactivated former spy who must balance going back to work with the challenges of having two preteen children — our new spy kids — and a baby.

In addition to the starring kids, two other key roles still need to be cast: Alba’s husband, a “slightly nerdy investigative reporter,” and the movie’s main villain, Time Keeper, who seeks to stop time. The report also reveals that Vega, Sabara and Antonio Banderas are expected to return in supporting roles; no word on Carla Gugino, who played the mother of the original kids and the wife of Banderas’ character.

Alba has already worked with writer/director/producer Rodriguez more than once. She had one of the starring roles in the ensemble comic book adaptation of Frank Miller’s “Sin City.” And she’ll next appear in Rodriguez’s “Machete,” alongside Danny Trejo, Robert De Niro, Lindsay Lohan
and more — another sizable ensemble — which hits theaters September 3.

“Spy Kids 4″ was previously confirmed as a 3-D release. Budgeted at under $30 million, it’s expected to start shooting next month.

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